Prelude to a visit
by SpoonyKay
Summary: Just the prelude to the Crow Movie. :) It's one of my favorites and I just felt I wanted to know Shelly, Sara, and Eric better. :)


Disclaimer: As you all know, I do not own rights to "The Crow", though I wouldn't have minded owning Brandon Lee. ^.- This is in his memory and the memory of the best Crow movie and the best man to play it. Here's to you, Brandon. :)  
  
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Eric Draven's fingers strummed over the strings on his guitar over and over again. He was repeating the same song over and over again. He sat in the large and overstuffed chair next to his and his girlfriend's bed. His lips mumbled softly as he played.   
  
*It can't rain all the time  
*Even though  
*I have only you.  
*I know it's all inside  
*In my mind  
*When you're near.  
  
He played the same verse over and over again, then stopped and sighed. It just didn't sound right. Maybe it was the guitar, maybe the room, or maybe just him. But it wasn't right. He cursed himself silently, then reached over, reaching for the cigarette in the ashtray next to him. When he'd wrapped his fingers around it, he heard a voice from the doorway.  
  
"Here you are, playing the same thing over and over again and smoking. I bet it's the smoke in the air that makes it sound wrong. Haven't I told you that smoking's bad for you?"  
  
Eric smiled slightly and looked up to his girlfriend, Shelly Webster, standing in the doorway. Her hair look tousled from trying to keep up with the renovations to their small apartment. She'd been trying to patch the roof the best she could, but it seemed everytime she would fix one thing, two would break. Funny how, despite the smear of dust on her cheek, the old clothing, and the messed up hair, she still looked beautiful to him. He smiled and held up the cigarette.   
  
"What? This little thing? How's it bad for me?"  
  
Shelly smiled at him teasingly and stepped forward, then took it from him. "It'll kill you. And you know I want to keep you around for the longest time I can." She pressed the cigarette against the ashtray, putting it out, then sat down at Eric's feet, her chin resting on his knee. She indicated his guitar with a slight nod of her head. "Having troubles again?"  
  
Eric sighed. "I guess. I dunno, Shelly. It just seems like every time I play it, it's not right. I want it to be..perfect. Just like who I wrote it for." Eric smiled and lifted her chin a bit, then kissed her on the forehead. He sat back and pulled off the guitar, putting it on it's stand near his chair, then slid down onto the ground, pulling Shelly against him. She smiled and nuzzled her head against him. "I ordered it."  
  
Eric pulled his head back a bit, then looked at her. "Ordered..?"  
  
"The dress." He looked down and smiled to see her staring at her engagement ring. He squeezed her once, then closed his eyes.   
  
"You take her with you?"  
  
Shelly nodded a bit. "Yea. Sara was my determining factor. We went through about 4 dress and decided on the least expensive one."  
  
Eric frowned a bit at that. "You don't have to do that, Shelly. I want you to have the best. And if I have to take on two more jobs, you're going to have it."  
  
Shelly smiled a bit under Eric's chin, then hugs him around the waist. "And if I have to marry in a trashbag, I'd be happy, just because I'd be marrying you."  
  
"Oh god, could you two get any more sappy?"   
  
Shelly and Eric both looked up to see Sara sitting against the doorway, a smirk on her face and her arms crossed. Shelly giggled a bit. "Just you wait, Sara! You'll be the same way one day. You'll be disgusting and nasty and all over some lucky guy."  
  
Sara made a disgusted face and both Eric and Shelly laughed. Sara sighed then, dropping her head a bit. "Well, Darla's out with Tin Tin tonight."  
  
Shelly bit her lip a bit, not wanting to say anything mean about Sara's mom. She climbed up from Eric's embrace, then walked over to Sara. She gave her a hug. "I'm sorry, Sara. But you know, you're always welcome here.."  
  
Sara smiled a bit, but the smile was cut short as Eric came up from behind and hit her with a pillow. "Hey!"  
  
Eric laughed. "Ha! Caught ya off guard!!!" He took off running across the apartment as Shelly and Sara looked at each other. They nodded and grabbed pillows from the bed, then took of after Eric, teaming up against him.  
  
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Eric's eyes opened slowly as he looked around the bedroom. Shelly wasn't next to him. She must've been spending another night trying to fix the broken down apartment. So many times, Eric had asked her if she'd wanted to move, but every time, she'd said no. She claimed this was their apartment and so many memories lived here. She couldn't bare to leave it. He sighed a bit to himself. It seemed a good time to go make sure Sara was okay.   
  
He rose from the bed and saw her, up on a chair near the ceiling. She was trying to patch a few of the holes that were letting water in. He shook his head slightly and looked at her.  
  
"Tomorrow night's our wedding and here you are, awake, and trying to patch the roof again."  
  
Shelly smiled in reply, then looked at him. "I can't sleep too well. I'm too excited."  
  
With a smile, Eric pulled her off the chair and against him. "Of course you are. You always are. You and your little things.." He kissed her lightly and put her back down on her feet. She smiled again. "It's only 9:30. I think you're sleeping too much!"  
  
"Well, if you think that, then I guess I'll get up and go check on Sara. Be back, alright?" He kissed her lightly, then headed out the door.  
  
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Eric smiled as he looked at the flowers in his hand. He grabbed them from a vendor that was walking away that night. He smelled them lightly. One rose in the middle. A white rose. Her favorite. He looked at it a it peeked between the orange and red flowers that were clustered around it. Eric put his hand on the door, but what he heard sent a shiver through him.  
  
"Eric?!"  
  
"Abashed, the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is... Wow. Look at the sick pictures, they make you wet?!"  
  
"ERIC!!"  
  
Without another thought, Eric pushed his way through the door. He saw his fiance, laying on her back with a lanky blonde man standing over her. "Shelly!!" his eyes widened in shock, but before he could make another move, a large black man threw a knife that sliced into his flesh. As the pain began to take over his body, he fell the ground, faint echoes of Shelly calling his name as he fell. He lay on the ground, curling up lightly as he heard Shelly's screams piercing the air. The skinny blonde man was crooning and yelling cheap lines in her ears. The sound of the bed creaking became everything as Eric listened, Shelly's cries becoming sobs. The sobs ran through Eric's soul and he began to sit up, pulling the knife that protruded from his chest out. He could feel the blood pouring over his hands as he looked down.  
  
"Well well, what do we have here? Seems he's still alive. We'll have to take care of that, now won't we?"  
  
Eric felt the arms that pull him up and drag him over to the part of the bedroom where he'd been playing his guitar not too many days ago. The man kicked the chair he had sat in out of the way and pointed a gun straight at his chest as his two lackeys held Eric up by the arms. An instant later, Eric could feel the force of a thousand tons on his chest. He stumbled to his felt, feeling a strange burning run through his blood. He'd been shot.  
  
Tripping over himself, Eric managed to turn and see the skinny blonde man smile at him as he pushed into Shelly again, causing her to cry out. The man laughed and Eric looked at Shelly one last time, whispering lightly to her that he loved her. His feet began to give and he tumbled backwards, falling into the stain glass window Shelly was always so proud of. The window broke to peices, the shards digging into his skin and cutting his clothes.   
  
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The blonde girl sat, her head against the police officer. Sara sniffed again. Eric had forgotten his guitar pick at Darla's apartment. She'd come to bring it back to him. And now, she watched as the ambulance pulled off, Shelly in the back. Then her eyes reverted back to the road and she looked at Eric, laying in the middle of the street. To herself, she whispered.  
  
"No goodbye... I thought you cared..."  
  
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End file.
